Tokyo Troublemakers
by Lyuna Threnody
Summary: Tsukino Usagi woke up one day with the overwhelming feeling that she needed to do something. That something wasn't legal, nor safe, but when it's the only thing that makes her feel almost complete, her nighttime job becomes her escape. Would she ever have people she could lower both of her masks for? Was she meant to become anything more than a simple troublemaker in Tokyo?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Her feet slammed against hard concrete as she ran down the streets of Tokyo, pushing past the men in business suits and the women in black dresses who barely looked up to see what had sped past, too absorbed in their own problems to care. It was dark. It was cold. It was 11pm but Tokyo was still full to the brim with people. Nothing but ignorant people.

She frowned in disgust at the idea. These people didn't know her, nobody knew who she really was. They might pretend to care but nobody knew each other either. She glanced to her left. That woman was married (ring on a necklace around her neck, tan marks on her fingers), the guy on her arm didn't know. Down the street from them was a man in a car; he probably had stolen it from the way he glanced around nervously, constantly checking the road behind him. What hope did these people have?

But still she ran. A dark blue ruffled skirt spread out around her while managing to hug her hips. The first underskirt was crimson, like blood, while the second was pure white. The two layers peeked out from beneath the blue. Underneath the multiple layers of skirt was a tight pair of shorts. God knows how much she fell over in the worst times; she didn't want to flash someone whilst being chased! The white corset bodysuit made her look sexy and mature, whilst hugging and covering her breasts enough to be appropriate, especially with a sailor neck tie in the same shade of blue as her skirt and one white stripe tied around her neck from the centre of her chest. She quietly contemplated her choice of outfit while she slowed down a little only to be shook out of the daydream when she heard yelling from behind her.

Instinctively, a burst of energy pushed her forward causing the long red boots with white rims to grind into the ground and her long golden hair to ripple from where it was held in a high ponytail. A smile graced her pink lips. The sense of freedom that came with the chase was certainly addicting. Everything felt more real as she ran, everyone seemed to disappear and she felt almost complete, like the adrenaline was something she needed to be herself! In a way it was. No matter how she denied it, the police, these random people she pushed past on the streets and even he saw more of the real her in the minutes it took to evade them than her friends at school, who saw the mask she had made for herself out of necessity. And boredom, if she would admit it.

Shaking her head to rid herself of unwanted thoughts, she ran even faster, not realising that there was a giant pothole on the corner in front of her. As she skidded around it, her feet moved from beneath her and she fell in an unladylike heap! She felt the salty tears gather in the corners of her eyes and sighed inwardly when the waterworks started. God, she was a freaking criminal genius who eluded the police on a bi-monthly basis, fighting them off with a determination that would scare a lion - and what defeats her? A pothole!

People around her winced at the loud wailing or rolled their eyes at such childish behaviour coming from what appeared to be at least an eighteen year old girl. Screams from the direction the girl had run from caused the bystanders to turn, doing a double take when they saw at least five policemen running towards them. Some of the suspicious looking people who surrounded her scattered in multiple different directions but many of them stayed for the oncoming drama.

Meanwhile, she still sat on the concrete, nursing her tiny wound and sniffling as the tears slowed down. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted the police, and, out of habit, ripped off her mask and shoved it down one of her boots, simultaneously pulling out a thin silk shawl from the pocket in the wind-shaped bow on her chest to wrap around herself. She sighed, cursed her own weakness and got ready to act her ass off. The policemen came to a halt as they spotted the object of their chase on the floor with her back to them.

"Hey! You, girl!" one of the five yelled, despite the fact that they were a metre away from her. Surprisingly, none of them made a move to grab her, probably too shocked that one of the most elusive thieves in Tokyo was this easy to catch.

"Get up! You are under arrest for-" another policeman trailed off as the gorgeous blonde turned to face them. Big blue eyes wet with tears seemed to plead her case while soft pouty lips showed off her purity and innocence. Her lower lip trembled and her small pale hands were clasped together, shaking and clutching at her shawl. The bystanders gasped at this vision of beauty, looking between her and the wavering policeman who held the handcuffs. What could a young girl like this, they questioned in muttered chatter, have done to get arrested?

"No sir, you must have the wrong girl! Look at her," a boy on the side-lines cried. Murmurs of agreement spread through the growing crowd, some of which were throwing very dirty looks toward the police and fawning ones towards the crying girl.

She was almost amazed at how easy this would be! They were eating it up! Despite the fact that her outfit was quite inappropriate really for an 'innocent' girl on the streets at night, everyone was pleading for her, making the police look very uncomfortable as they squirmed like bugs under a microscope. Deciding to bring it in a little, she daintily coughed twice and inwardly smiled when all turned to face her.

"I'm so sorry for whatever you think I did but… I can assure you I didn't do anything wrong," she said innocently, her red knives conveniently hidden inside the red wing shaped bow on her chest, before gasping and looking a little guilty, "Unless going to the shrine late at night to pray is a crime!"

At this admission, the police grew unsure. They looked at the people who seemed ready to fight to protect this angel and sighed at their obvious mistake. Suddenly, the girl began to sniff and cry again, little diamond tears pouring out of her azure eyes. Gasps came from her audience at the girl who was even beautiful when she cried. She had someone mystified a myriad of civilians and five policemen!

"Uh, I – I guess we have the wrong girl. Sorry folks, sorry miss," the smallest policeman apologised sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck with his left hand. Slowly, they began to walk away. A couple of them complained about their failure on catching the nameless thief they had dubbed as 'Kiniro,' after her hair, which was akin to that of spun gold.

A girl off to her left helped her up and she thanked the stranger with an angelic smile. She continued down the street at a walking pace as if the past five minutes hadn't happened… After walking for about ten minutes, she was far enough from civilisation to breathe out a sigh of relief, take off the figurative mask and replace it with the literal one from her boot, tucking away the shawl at once. Although she was glad that she was safe now, she was oddly disappointed. The pleasure came from the stealing, the chase and the escape but not what she stole itself. When it was all over she was left slightly empty.

Sighing again, she went to take out the loot, which was an expensive pair of moonstone earrings that had been heavily guarded before they went up for auction, when a deep chuckle sounded from behind. It sent shivers down her spine in all the right ways yet aggravated her anyway. She didn't have to turn to know who it was.

"That was entertaining. I don't know how on Earth you got away with it though; I could see the outline of both of the knives from the crowd," he smirked. She turned slowly almost forgetting to remove the smile from her face at the prospect of seeing him at the last second. Instead her face was one of innocence.

"Tuxedo Kamen, I don't know what you could be talking about. A sweet, simple woman like me doesn't even know what a knife is!" she smiled saccharinely, her hands clasped behind her back. Her eyes narrowed triumphantly when his gaze lingered on her chest for a little longer than was normal. She wanted him to want her - the power of it was exhilarating - even if she didn't want him.

Okay, so maybe she found her thieving enemy a little attractive, but who wouldn't? His dark hair fell over his midnight blue eyes while his face was hidden with a white domino mask. He always dressed like he was going to a fancy dinner, with a plain black James-Bond-esque tuxedo, black tie and top hat which tilted at an almost arrogant angle. You could see the outline of promisingly delectable muscles underneath the suit. She almost sighed again just looking at him. He made a god damn top hat look incredible.

"Of course, 'sweet' and 'simple.' I'm surprised you manage to stand up long enough most days for the police to almost arrest you," he scoffed with another infuriating smirk. God, he had an astonishing physique and he had to ruin it with that personality. Oh well, she knew how to play him. With an exaggerated sigh she walked past him slowly, getting out the earring box and holding it beneath his gaze.

"And I was thinking of sharing my prize with my dear enemy," she grinned at his look of alarm, "But I guess I'm just not that sweet. I guess I'm just not, what's the word?, _elegant_ enough either to be merciful."

"I wouldn't stand for just one earring anyway. I was thinking of making a much better offer," Tuxedo Kamen began to get serious again. The look on his face intrigued her as she put the earrings back into her wing bow pocket along with her knives.

"I'm listening," she leant against the nearest wall. Tuxedo Kamen smiled like a predator about to catch his prey and strode towards her in slow steps. In four seconds, she counted, he reached her. Her eyes widened when he trapped her against the wall by placing his arms next to her head. As he leaned over her with that grin plastered on his face, she was unwillingly reminded that she was still just a fifteen year old girl no matter how old she looked and she couldn't fight off this man if he attacked her. He looked about eighteen but was probably a little older and he was definitely strong.

Despite the feeling of imminent danger, she just couldn't get herself to move. She could escape if she wanted to because of the foot and a half long height gap between the two of them and the space under his arm but… his eyes were so blue and his face was getting closer and she had hormones and this man was very attractive dammit and –

"I'm thinking that I'll just take them myself," he whispered as he ducked his head down to her ear to lightly bite on the lobe before lowering his hand to try to steal the earrings from her.

Her mind was hazy from the closeness Kamen was demonstrating but the fear of losing what she had worked pretty damn hard for broke through it. She twisted her body to the side so that there was more distance between his hand and the pocket, grabbed a knife and held it against his throat, pushing away his left hand at the same time. His eyes glinted with vague amusement as the knife was pressed a little more into his throat. Their breathing was laboured from the closeness or the exertion of the events thus far and both were smiling slightly under the moonlight.

"Or you could walk away and accept your defeat graciously, like a gentleman," she purred, pressing her side against his body so that he couldn't reach the earrings. Tuxedo Kamen shuddered a little but he pulled away and stepped back with his arms in the air as a sign of surrender.

"I wouldn't be able to wear this tuxedo if I wasn't a gentleman. I yield," he sighed, lowering his head. Suddenly, he brought it back up to stare at her with a thrilling intensity.

"But I will warn you. Next time we're after the same thing, you won't walk away the victor," he smiled mischievously, "Kiniro."

And with that he was gone. Jumping over a nearby wall with catlike grace and leaving a flustered girl in his wake. Him saying her name, albeit not her real one, had affected her a lot more than she would like to admit. It was the first time he had said it like _that_. The smell of roses lingered in the air around her as she put away her knife and checked that the earrings were still there, which they were.

With a final glance around her, she ran down the several more roads and many more alleys for half an hour until she reached a medium sized house with all of its lights off. The garden in front of it was neat as was the garden behind it. The house was cleanly painted and clearly belonged to a nice typical, family.

"What a rebel I am!" she muttered as she snuck into the garden of the house. She scaled the wall until she reached an open window covered by pink, bunny curtains. As she bent her body so she could fit through the window in complete silence, she questioned her own sanity a little bit. What normal teen got back to the house at, she checked her clock on the wall, almost midnight after stealing expensive earrings from a rich lady's guarded house?

Although, she certainly had fun on nights like this! Her blood was pumping, her heart was racing and she got to take off the mask for a few free hours. Grinning like a maniac, she took of her 'Kiniro' clothes so that she could hide them at the back of her wardrobe. Her feet ached from all of the running and her hair was a bit messy too but it would wear off by morning when she would begin her routine.

She would 'wake up' late, rush to school, be an idiot in class, chat with Naru, fail a test, come home, disappoint her mother and go to bed. That was her life now. It was the price to pay for her midnight escapades. She would act like much more of a bubbly teenager than she was to remain unknown and unrecognisable as 'Kiniro.'

As Tsukino Usagi fell asleep in her pink bunny room in her pink bunny blanket, surrounded by pictures of a her 'friends' with a girl who looked exactly like her but wasn't _her_, she smiled sadly. Would she ever be able to do things that made her feel completely free without the fear of arrest or failure? Would she ever have people she could lower both of her masks for? Was she meant to become anything more than a simple troublemaker in Tokyo? 


	2. Chapter 1 - A Day in the Life of Usagi

**AN: Hello again! It's been about a week since I uploaded the prologue and I've loved reading the lovely reviews, albeit not many, that I've had! I hope you enjoy what is technically chapter one, where not much actually happens but it's like 3,000 words so I decided to upload it as a single chapter.**

**PS. I don't own Sailor Moon sadly, mainly because I was born ten years too late (And I'm not a genius like Naoko). I cry every time I remember this.**

* * *

Chapter 1

Sunlight broke through the window adjacent to Usagi's bed, slowly reaching out further towards the door as the Sun rose, illuminating her small desk and pink rug. Time seemed to freeze for a moment as a small noise came from the bed. Usagi yawned quietly as she woke up and stretched her arms above her at the same time. She lay spread out while her mane of golden hair tangled around her. The bunny pyjamas she wore hid her perfect figure and long legs like she had planned a year ago when her body's developments became more prominent. The other girls had begun to act funny around her with the more attention she got from the boys. Even Naru had almost slipped away…

The girl in the bunny blanket was the polar opposite to the woman who ruled the streets of Tokyo during the night. This fifteen year old was innocent, awkward and clumsy; she would never in a million years be able to pull off a robbery or look good in a short skirt. Usagi always seemed to smile with infinite happiness and nobody knew how much angst hid behind it all. Inside Tsukino Usagi was a girl who had wanted to be herself but when she realised that herself was too much for the world, she created a dangerous alter ego so that Usagi could feel free from the mask for a few hours, just enough time to do something she could enjoy.

Sure, she knew that what she did as Kiniro was wrong, she was a very morally upright citizen after all, but it was the only way she could feel one hundred percent comfortable in her own skin. She didn't know how to explain it really. One day she simply knew that this was what she had to do. She had to steal to feel whole. She had to run to feel free. She had to wake up now because her alarm was ringing and she really wanted a shower before going to school!

"God, I feel covered in ickyness from last night. The streets of Tokyo are not the cleanest places to fall over onto," Usagi muttered as she peeled herself from the bed. She winced at the slight pain that shot through her body. It seemed that maybe she ran _too_ much last night. Her feet hurt like hell!

"Oh well, I've coped with worse. I remember when that guard stabbed me and I had to walk around school all day with a giant gash on my arm," she laughed a little at the memory. Thank goodness that she healed quickly because it would have been harder to hide it if it was still bleeding. She managed to get away with it by claiming that she fell down the stairs and the bandages only covered a small bruise.

"Naru believed me easily but Umino didn't," she reminded herself. Umino had spent the day questioning her, claiming to have not seen her fall down the stairs. The weirdo had obviously been stalking her. Usagi saw it as something harmless but if he followed her when she was Kiniro she would be in serious trouble. He might connect the dots and realise that she had a very promiscuous alter ego…

"Nah, there's no reason to worry. Bubbly airheads couldn't pull off half of what I've done. Even if he saw me, he wouldn't believe it," she smiled with pride. Despite what others may think, she was proud of who she was and what she did. Usagi jumped out of bed perkily and strode towards the mirror with only a slight limp. When she saw her normal self look back at her with no visible bruises or cuts she felt relieved. Other than the aching in her feet she was unscathed from the night before.

With this thought in mind, she tiptoed to the bathroom and had a really quiet shower. Well, as quiet as a shower can get really. It took her about fifteen minutes to shampoo, condition and wash her hair and another five minutes to wash off the tiny patches of dirt on her thighs that had gathered from the fall on the street. Compared to her usual morning showers, this one was much longer. She turned off the water before she wrapped a pink, fluffy towel around her body.

After reaching her room again from the bathroom, she put on her pyjamas again and got back in bed to enjoy another hour of sleep before her mother would barge in to force her to wake. Sleep welcomed her very quickly. The ritual of waking early, showering and then going back to bed had become a habit when one day her mom questioned a large wound on her dirty legs, just as she was hopping into the shower to wash it all off. Usagi had lied through her teeth, which was surprisingly difficult for a master criminal. Tsukino Ikuko was one of the best mothers a girl could ask for. She was beautiful, kind, compassionate and it didn't hurt that she cooked amazing food which was a massive plus for Usagi! Having Ikuko as a mother meant that Usagi had been raised in a way that nurtured every aspect of her personality and she was grateful but it made it very difficult for Usagi to lie to her mother, even about really trivial things that weren't as serious as being a phantom thief. A kaitou. Kaitou Kiniro.

Predictably, Usagi was woken up very suddenly by the pitchy screaming of her mother. She was sat upright in seconds! Catching a quick look at her clock told her that she was going to be seriously late if she didn't move. Now.

"Kya!" Usagi squealed and made a big show of falling out of bed which wasn't that difficult considering how clumsy she genuinely was. She mentally berated herself. She knew she shouldn't have spent so long in the shower! Oh god, Haruna-sensei was actually going to kill her, she was actually going to die. Who'd have known that her teacher was going to be the death of her and not the extravagant traps set up by the police for Kiniro?

Normally she would have made sure that she was only a minute or so late to class to avoid too many detentions to get her in severe trouble but she took longer in the shower than most days and that had set her entire meticulous schedule back by, she checked the clock… Ten minutes! She was going to be so late! Rushing around her room like a hurricane, Usagi shoved herself into her uniform, hastily put her hair up in her signature odangos (They made her look like five years younger) and grabbed her pre-packed bag from her desk before practically jumping down the stairs and into the kitchen. A plate of mouth-watering pancakes were stacked on the dining room table. Oh how she wished she could sit down and eat those heavenly, buttery pancakes descended from heaven itself…. No! No time! Usagi remembered to grab her lunch and left.

"Usagi, do you have your –" Ikuko, who was sat reading a newspaper at the table, was cut off by the sound of a slamming door and the feeling of her house shaking under the slam.

"Lunch," she sighed. Of course, Usagi had probably forgotten her lunch. That girl was a real nuisance most of the time - although, Ikuko thought absently, this behaviour had only really became as bad as this about six months ago. Before that Usagi's behaviour was still much like it was now but less over-the-top, if that made any sense? Six months ago Usagi would sometimes demonstrate an astonishing level of maturity but one day even those moments had just stopped completely.

"Oh well, it's probably nothing. I'm reading too much into it. Usagi's still young. She's allowed to enjoy that whilst it lasts," she murmured to herself as her gaze lingered on the front page of the newspaper she had been reading. It seemed that Kaitou Kiniro had struck last night, stealing a pair of moonstone earrings from a rich woman's house only a few hours before they were set to go up for auction. It was an illegal auction apparently and the police had to grudgingly admit that it was better that Kiniro had them than the shady businessmen involved with the auction. Moonstone wasn't priceless anyway.

Meanwhile, Usagi was running at an unnatural speed down the street. Come on, she thought, I'm only a little bit away from school! She had heard the bell a couple of minutes ago but she was determined to make it on time. Well, at least on time for Tsukino Usagi. At the speed she was going it would really hurt to crash into something so she was lucky that the only people nearby would be the super late students at her school and _nobody_ was as late as her. She was the princess of lateness! However, the universe hadn't planned for Usagi to be this late. Fate had observed that she was a giant fluke and she kind of just skipped through life while ignoring any plans set in motion by any sort of higher power that may exist. Certainly fate had not planned what was to come. What was to come would just show how little control Fate had over anything. That was why, five minutes after her bell went Usagi decided to go and trip over a cat.

"Aaaah!" she cried as she hit the ground with a thump. The object she tripped over made a strange sort of mewl as it struggled to break free from where it was held captive under Usagi's albeit light body.

"Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry kitty!" she panicked as she saw the cat underneath her and lifted it up. The cat was female with dark almost purplish fur and oddly expressive red, yes red, eyes that kept blinking as she struggled in Usagi's gentle hands. Its paws clawed at a plaster on its small head.

"Is that bothering you, kitty?" Usagi asked gently. For some reason it almost felt like this cat would be able to understand what she was saying. That was silly though, right? She broke out of her own little world when the cat began to meow as if it was in pain. Feeling a little guilty for not removing the source of its ire Usagi held the cat to her chest so that she could use one hand to remove the plaster. It didn't matter which; she was ambidextrous.

"I'm sorry kitty! People say I blank out sometimes when I think," she chatted distractedly, "I think that's good though 'cause I can think really well when I do that…"

Usagi trailed off. By taking of the plaster, she had expected to see, well, she had expected to not see this! There was the distinctive shape of a crescent moon in the colour of pure gold, her night-time personality's namesake actually, in the centre of the cat's forehead. It seemed to glow under her gaze. Something about it mesmerized her and her grip on the kitty loosened enough for it to dart away from her and jump onto a nearby wall. Usagi's eyes followed the movement with a sudden nervousness. From the way the cat was perched on the wall looking down at her she felt as if every inch of her was being tested almost. She was an experiment in the lab. Those red eyes stared with such _human_ intensity that Usagi forgot for a second that these were the eyes of a cat.

"I have to go now kitty," Usagi lifted herself from the floor, never breaking eye contact with the cat as she continued and began to walk away backwards, "And I have the feeling you understand every word I'm saying. Which scares me, kitty, it really does. And the fact that I'm scared scares me so I'm going to go."

With that, Usagi turned and ran faster than she had before she tripped over the freaky cat. During that weird encounter she had completely forgotten about school! Haruna-sensei was going to kill her. She really was, no jokes this time!

* * *

"Usagi! Usagi wake up, it's lunch time!" Naru's voice drifted slowly into the ears of the asleep Usagi. Drowsily, she blinked the sleep out of her eyes and lifted her head up from the desk. For a second she was just really confused. Her mind was still blanketed with a fuzzy mist that came after a really good rest. Where was she? What had happened again? She was…

Oh yeah, Haruna-sensei gave me a detention when I got to school, she thought. After that, Usagi had pouted in the classroom and half paid attention to the lesson. About half way through though she had fell asleep. Well, it wasn't her fault really! School was so boring sometimes! Especially when she already knew most of what was being taught. Nobody ever understood what Haruna was trying to teach so Usagi's class seemed to always be learning the same god damn thing. She only needed to learn something once to fully understand and remember it so it just got really annoying.

"Sorry Naru! I'm really sleepy. I was up late reading manga," Usagi excused herself sheepishly, scratching the back of her neck with one hand. Naru shook her head while a faint smile tugged at her lips.

"It's okay, Usa, but can we go eat now. I'm hungry and I have something exciting to tell you!" Naru gushed. Suddenly, she grabbed Usagi's arm and yanked her out of her seat.

"What!? Naru slow down!" Usagi whined loudly as she was viciously dragged down the corridor by her crazy friend. Naru completely ignored her! With a humph, Usagi crossed her arms and let herself be pulled away. People around them rolled their eyes at classic Naru-Usagi behaviour before going back to their own things.

A couple of minutes later, the pair reached the bench nestled on the edge of a grassy area that they always sat at. Trees shaded the space around it and made their little sanctuary very private and cosy. Almost nobody at the school even knew it existed. Golden flowers grew on the emerald grass and a few little rose bushes had grown around the path leading to the bench, circling it beautifully. It was actually a very romantic setting but the two giggling fifteen year olds destroyed that immediately to replace it with one of childish simplicity, where the colours of nature seemed to glow and different shades faded to their original colour. Red was red and green was green. There was no in between. No light and no dark.

Usagi and Naru sat down and got out their lunch from cute little boxes. Usagi inwardly sighed. She required a lot more energy than most girls her age because of her night-time activities and… well, she had always just needed more energy from food to function. She mused that maybe her accelerated healing and running speed had something to do with it. The body used energy from food to move around and live and stuff so, Usagi theorised, if her body did more moving around and used a lot of energy to heal quickly then she needed to take in that energy in the first place. From food. Tons of food. Today though, she didn't feel _that_ hungry and there was a lot of food in her bento…

"Anyway, what is it that has you so excited!?" Usagi asked happily while she forced herself to eat. Naru grinned.

"Oh not much," she began nonchalantly, "Just that a certain Kaitou has sent a certain notice to a certain someone's mother's jewellery shop about stealing a certain 10-carat engagement ring!" Naru finished with a squeal. Usagi rolled her eyes before pasting on an exaggerated smile.

"Tuxedo Kamen-sama! Oh I can see why you'd be excited about that guy sending a notice. He's sooo dreamy," Usagi sighed with a far off look in her eyes. Inside her mind she was thinking a mile a minute. If Kamen was sending a notice for a ring before her then it must be worth stealing. Most of the time, he waited for Kiniro to send one before he did. Like he wanted to wait and see what caught her fancy before he pounced.

Naru's mother owned a very successful jewellers in Tokyo that was famous all over the world. It seemed that recently she had been sold an engagement ring; a 10-carat marquise-shaped diamond that was set horizontally instead of vertically, and surrounded by 28 smaller diamonds, valued at about 200,000,000 yen. This ring was beautiful and had a lovely vintage look. Usagi remembered Naru mentioned something about it a few days before but she hadn't been paying attention. She was too busy planning to steal the moonstone earrings. Oh god, her lack of attentiveness was really coming back to bite her in the ass. Hmm, well it was a bit soon for another heist but if Tuxedo Kamen was…

"No silly! Kiniro sent a notice about an two hours ago directly to my mom and –" Naru was cut off as Usagi choked on her food.

"And are you okay?" she asked, reaching to pat her friend's back to stop the coughing.

"How did that happen? I'm Ki-" Usagi collapsed into another coughing fit. She had almost told Naru that she was Kiniro. That would have been awful! More importantly though, how the fudge had she sent a notice without even realising? Had she done it when she was asleep?

"Naru, what time was it exactly that your mom got the heist notice?" Usagi became serious. Naru did a double take when she saw this look on her bubbly brainless friend.

"Um, about half past ten this morning. We were in maths?" she slowly informed, "Why do you care?"

"No real reason."

"Anyway," Naru began, "Like I said, I'm really excited!"

"Why the heck are you excited?! That diamonds worth like a gazillion yen! If Kiniro stole it your mom would be devastated and you might go out of business! Didn't you say that you were planning to sell it soon? If it was stolen then the buyer would be angry and might sue and I'm babbling now but how could Kiniro do this to you and your family, that seems so stupid, I bet that notice wasn't even from her!" Usagi got basically all of this out in one breath. Naru's eyes widened to the size of plates about halfway through the rant. There was silence for what seemed like a minute while the two girls sat facing each other with equal looks of shock.

"… … HAHAHAHAHA! Oh my god how can you speak that fast!? What were you even saying?" Naru fell off the bench as she shook with laughter. She was gasping for breath and her chest actually hurt. Usagi pouted and crossed her arms.

"Mou, Naru-chan's so mean," she muttered quietly, "Here I am worrying about her livelihood and she just laughs… Get off the floor!" With this Naru pulled herself off the floor reluctantly and sat back down on the bench.

"I'm sorry," she giggled, "You're just so silly sometimes Usagi!"

"All I did was care about your situation if Kiniro or whoever this imposter is steals that ring," Usagi sighed. Why was Naru so excited anyway? She'd never been _this_ big a Kiniro fan. Apparently since her first appearance as Kaitou Kiniro, she had gained many die-hard fans who even tried to sneak into the location of the heist to see her. Kiniro was popular mostly among men, while Tuxedo Kamen was popular among women but both thieves had a relatively mixed fan base. Naru had never been one of these fans though.

"It can't be an imposter, only an idiot would put themselves in as much danger as Kiniro does. She's obviously like a trained thief," Naru rolled her eyes.

"Oh yeah," Usagi faked a look of thoughtfulness, "It probably is the real one then."

"Mm hmm. It'll be real exciting to see her in real life though, won't it? I called mom and she said that there will be tons of people around for the heist tonight – "

"Wait, tonight?!" Usagi gawked. Naru glared at her for interrupting.

"Yes," she sighed, "Tonight."

"That's pretty soon isn't it. Normally she waits at least a week between heists. All the more proof this is a fake Kiniro…" Usagi hinted.

"Maybe she just couldn't wait to steal the ring? Now stop interrupting and let me finish," Naru admonished. Usagi nodded meekly.

"So there will be tons of people watching from the street tonight 'cause my mom released the notice to the reporters outside the shop, and you know how many fans Kiniro has. It's going to be like a big party and there's going to be helicopters and lights and everything! And Tuxedo Kamen might show up to steal the ring as well, then I can steal him!" Naru smiled evilly, drifting off into her own world to dream about Tuxedo Kamen-sama.

"And the real reason for your excitement appears," Usagi whispered under her breath. Oh god, whatever crazy fan sent this notice claiming to be her was going to get an earful. With helicopters and a giant crowd it was going to be way too hard to steal the ring. She couldn't disappoint her fans and Naru though when this faux heist was turning into such a big show so she would simply have to go and steal the diamond ring.

"I'm going to be so tired tomorrow," she whined mentally. For a growing fifteen year old girl she was not getting nearly enough sleep!

Suddenly the bell which signalled the end of lunch rang. Usagi quickly shovelled some more of her food into her mouth with renewed vigour. She was going to need a lot more energy to pull off this impromptu theft. As she grabbed her bag and waved goodbye to Naru she remembered that she didn't know the time of the heist.

"Oh yeah, Naru when is Kiniro going to show up?" Usagi asked.

"The notice says exactly nine o'clock tonight. Why, are you going?"

Usagi smiled secretively. "Yeah, something like that."

* * *

**AN: Yay! Chapter 1 completed! Chapter 2 should be coming out at some point in the next two weeks. We'll get to see what happens at a Kiniro heist and find out who sent the notice, it definitely wasn't the real Kiniro! ;) Ja ne, min'na!**


	3. Chapter 2 - Heist No' 1

**AN: Hello everyone! So, um, yeah. It's been a while hasn't it? I'm sooo sorry. Things have been really busy for a while, 'cause I had some mock exams and then a bunch of school trips/activities, which have drained me, because it's the end of the year. I'm not saying updates will be coming quicker or more regularly, but I like where this story is going and I want to finish it even if it takes me forever! You guys wouldn't mind right, if you just have to stay waiting a little longer for each chapter? Anyway, love you all, enjoy chapter 2 of Tokyo Troublemakers where we see what goes down at a Kaitou Kiniro heist...**

**Also, if I owned Sailor Moon, which I don't, I'd buy an island and name it 'Don't come here' because then it would be a really nice, private island. I don't own the cover art either, I can barely write let alone draw!**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

After finishing planning the heist, Usagi smiled. This was going to be fun! She rubbed her hands together and laughed maniacally at the ceiling like an old-fashioned villain.

"Mwah ha ha ha! Mwah hahaha! MWAH HAHAHA! MWA – eep!" Usagi leant back so far that she fell off the chair onto a heap on the floor. She sat up and rubbed her arm.

"Itai! My arm hurts now!" Usagi pouted on the floor. As she stood up, she saw something glitter from across the room. Usagi walked towards it with her head tilted, an unconscious movement she made when she was curious. When she reached the glistening object, she bent down gracefully and picked it up. Oh god, she was such an idiot!

"It's just the earrings I stole last night! Here I was thinking it was something interesting," she complained. Absently she threw the box up and down in her hand and but her lip. A quick glance down at the box at the bottom of her cupboard made her wince. After six months of being Kiniro, she had a lot of expensive jewellery – and evidence of her being a Kaitou – in a dusty box she had hid. There were necklaces, rings, sapphires, rubies, even diamonds! If her mom stumbled across them whilst cleaning, there would be no excuse that she could make to explain it.

"I should probably just get rid of it. It's not as if I even use or wear any of it," Usagi mumbled thoughtfully. But where would she put them? She couldn't just dump them in a river or something. No way, they were too expensive to do that! Besides, to do that would just make her too cruel a thief – to steal and then get rid of it, to put the police through torture protecting it and then dumping it in some dirty lake.

"I could always…" Usagi trailed off. It would make the most sense to do that! Okay, it was settled! Usagi would give all of the jewellery back to the police while she stole the engagement ring.

"Tonight."

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Illuminated by silver moonlight, Kaitou Kiniro complete with trademark outfit and mask stood perfectly still on a roof opposite Naru's mom's store, Osa-P. The police were so focussed on the building itself that they had completely ignored the apartment opposite, which Kiniro was using for some brief reconnaissance. It was really quite a beautiful sight – she thought as she smiled fondly down at the street below.

"I never knew I had _so_ many fans," she murmured. From where she was perched, the hundreds of people looked like little ants. The spotlights from nearby helicopters would briefly light up some of the ants before rolling over to light up a certain window of Osa-P. Perhaps someone had seen something move inside the buildings. Perhaps they had thought it was her.

Silly.

If she was in there, they wouldn't see her before she struck. Like a shadow in the night, she was unnoticed and invisible. Just the way she liked it.

With a quick glance at a nearby clock, she backed up a few steps until her back was closer to the building behind. It was time to begin – nine o'clock. Time was still for a moment once again, as it had been that morning. Even the unaware people on the street seemed to stop and hold their breath, expecting something but not knowing what until suddenly a golden flash known as Kiniro darted from where she stood on the building, running forward faster and faster and then she was at the edge of the building and she jumped, arms wide, for all the world looking like an angel with a serene smile on her face and a mischievous look in her eyes. Silky hair exploded outwards like ribbons as the air rushed towards her. Arms lifted up above her head, into a diver's position to streamline the fall down. Her mouth opened as she screamed an enthusiastic 'Woo!' to the people below, causing them to look up and see a masked beauty clad in blue, red and white come closer towards them from the sky!

And oh – it was what made it all worth it, the adrenaline, the air, the excitement of being who she was some nights. Kiniro heard passers-by shriek with fear, heard her fans gasp, and heard the police quieten at the shock of the thief they had been trying to catch for six months jump straight off a building!? Holding back a laugh at their faces, she subtly moved her hand towards the button on the bow on her back, ready to press when she was at the right height and angle. 100m from the ground, 90m, 80m, 70m, 60m, 40m, 35m, 30m, 25m – the people on the street were running left and right, screaming their heads off at this point – 20m annnnd go!

Quickly she pressed the disguised button on her bow and felt her body be lifted up to horizontal position as the black mask-shaped hang glider in the bow filled with air, popping out with a soft whumph. Every member of the audience, including the police, sucked in a shocked breath of air, looking gobsmacked. It was possible to tell who her fans were; they were the ones who recovered first, bursting into excited cheering and clapping as Kaitou Kiniro did a showy loop-the-loop right over their heads! Kiniro smirked at the faces of the police while they snapped out of their stupor and began to be instructed to catch her, somehow.

Finally, after one more loop, it was time to actually enter the jewellery store. She pressed another button that was on a remote that she held in her hand to set off some fireworks she had set up on the roof to distract everybody, then zoomed through the air and through an empty window of Osa-P. During her fall, all of the police officers inside the store had left to see what was going on so the place was completely empty, plus nobody had seen her enter the store because they had all been paying attention the fireworks. Most of the police were too stupid to figure out it was just a distraction, so she had a bit of time to find the engagement ring and escape. But not a lot.

Carefully, with a level of stealth which could rival that of a cheetah's, she slunk through the door of the room she was in; Naru's mother's room. It was very spacious, filled with little knickknacks from the places around the world she had visited. On the dressing table was a Mexican calavera, a Hindu Buddhist statue, an Egyptian sphinx sculpture and even a mini Liberty Bell from America! Sometimes Usagi envied Naru. Naru could travel with her mother all around the globe, albeit to collect rare gems to sell in the store, seeing gorgeous landmarks, interesting cultures and most importantly eating unique foods. Usagi though, was stuck in Tokyo, Japan. Don't misunderstand, she loved Japan. She loved the food, the people, the buildings and the culture but it grew monotonous for someone like her, living the same life day after day… At least, the same life until she became Kaitou Kiniro six months ago. Since then, she had been able to get her adventure from a source closer to home.

Leaving Naru's mom's room, Kiniro pressed her body against the wall, sliding along it whilst glancing around the corridor. At school, Naru had mentioned a laser security system which had been put in place to stop, well, her. Apparently, it would burn through her skin and alert the police if it touched her, which seemed a little bit violent! As long as she stuck to the walls she should be fine, as the lasers pointed straight across the corridor from one door to another, which reminded her, she was coming up to a place where two corridors intersected. It was great having tons of knowledge about a building beforehand! Kiniro knew the store like the back of her hand, having spent most of her time there when she was younger and at the age where a sleepover everyday was the most amazing thing in the world. It still was, though; sleepovers at Naru's house were awesome! They ate pizza and chocolate, two of her favourite foods, until midnight, sung karaoke, gushed over Tuxedo Kamen and other heartthrob celebrities and then slept… actually, no, there was no sleeping involved normally.

Anyway, her mind was wandering to this when suddenly, a red flash coming from down stairs caught her eye. She turned her head around the intersection to see what it was but couldn't see anything in the dark. Wary now, she bent her leg around the corner of the corridor to avoid the laser coming from that direction, then slipped the rest of her body round. The corridor she was stood in now led to the stairs, which would take her to where the ring was 'hidden,' the place it was 'hidden' in being a big glass case in the very centre of the room, according to what Naru told her at school.

One foot at a time she crept down the stairs. Her ears and eyes were hyperaware of every movement, ever noise in the room she was walking down the stairs and into. Once she got downstairs, it became easier to travel around. Big windows at the front of the store let in moonlight, which kindly illuminated every object for its mistress. There was also, however, one big problem with the room. The door was glass.

Kiniro pressed herself once again to the wall, praying that nobody outside had seen her through the door. She stilled a few seconds, waiting for the screams of 'There's Kiniro! GET HER!' to begin… thankfully though, they didn't. Breathing a sigh of relief, she sunk down low to the ground. She crawled towards one of the cases and hid behind it. Then, she cast a glance around the case before crawling to the next closest one, continuing this pattern until she was close, very close, to the door. From there, she slowly lifted herself up, darted to the wall and used it to hide herself. The door was right beside her but she still hadn't been spotted. Good.

What to do next, she asked herself. Kiniro bit her lip, as she had a habit of doing when she was nervous. Purposefully, she had moved herself closer to the door, as she was less visible there, but she didn't really know what to do next, having forgotten about the glass door when designing her plan earlier. Really though she couldn't be blamed. Whoever had organised this heist instead of her should have given her much more time. If it was Tuxedo Mask, she was going to kill him. Heck, it didn't matter how gorgeous he looked in a Tux, he was sooo dead! You don't mess with Kaitou Kiniro and get away with it! She had freaking blades in her bow; you don't mess with a person who keeps blades in… their… bow.

Of course! The blades! Both of them together would be enough to jam the door handles and stop anyone from getting in. Then she could go to the case and break the ring out with ease. It was settled! She reached into the bow-pocket on her chest, opened it and pulled out the blades, unsheathing them at the same time. Hopefully she would be able to retrieve them later. After all, they were really pretty, with a red bejewelled handle which sparkled in the moonlight. The blade was curved and really sharp, so she kept it in a sheath to avoid it ripping through her bow.

She held one in her right, and one in her left hand. It would make it quicker to put the blades through the door without anyone stopping her first. Counting down from ten, she bent her knees and leant forward, ready to dive from the wall. Five, four, three, two, one – she pushed off from the wall and took a millisecond to enjoy the shocked faces of the police men who stood there, before pushing the blades through the handle and stepping back to enjoy the shock some more. Forever the show-off, she waved her dainty little hand eagerly at them as they jumped into action and tried to pull open the door, alas, to no avail. She stepped away from the door with a wink.

The only other nearby entrance to the room she was in was the exit, which had a lock you could turn from the inside, so she went over to the door and did just that. Every window in the building was made of super tough glass, and she was willing to bet the door was too; it would take a long time for them to break through and get inside. Finally, she was safe. Now she was free to do as she pleased.

A look of determination spread over her face as she glided over to the display which held the engagement ring. The case looked like it was made of the same glass as the windows and door, so she couldn't break it herself. Also, there didn't seem to be anyplace on the case, ha, to insert a key and unlock. There had to be a way to get into the case though, because Naru's mother would need to get it out to show it to potential buyers so… the question was how. And what, actually, what did this ring even look like. Kiniro hadn't the time to look it up on the internet earlier; she had no clue how it looked. Glancing up at the ring and taking her eyes away from the case, she nearly had a heart attack.

Holy fudge, it was massive! The diamond was super-sparkly and even look red in the centre, as if there was something in it! Light reflected off every single inch of it in a dazzling display. Who the heck had decided that she was going to steal this thing!? And why wasn't the security better!? It had been painfully easy to break in to the building to steal the shiny rock… Was there something she was missing about this diamond? Was it a fake? No, it was real. It refracted light like a real diamond should, all angles and striking bends, and the reflections were shades of grey. Fakes normally had a more rainbow coloured look to them. And it didn't sparkle as much as moissanite, something which could easily be used as a fake diamond, would. Hmm.

A loud bang distracted Kiniro from her musings. Turning her head to the right slightly, she could see the police trying to smash open the door. Oops, better hurry! Okay, so there was probably a hidden switch somewhere on the case, somewhere where nobody would usually touch or even knock into. Children were allowed into the store so it wouldn't be low down, as a child would touch it. Although, it wouldn't be high on the case because adults could touch that. There probably wasn't a switch on the actual case part then. There also wouldn't be one on the floor as people would stand on it and open the glass. The glass? Could it….?

Could the switch be on the very top of the glass part of the case? It _was_ very tall, so nobody would rest there arm on it normally, and most people wouldn't touch the top of it.

"I could be wrong. Oh well, there's only one way to find out," she murmured to herself as she stood on her tip-toes and felt around the top of the glass for anything button shaped, until she found it in the very centre, "Fight."

There was a distinctive click sound after she pushed the button, followed by the sound of gears turning. Either, a trap had been activated or the glass case was opening. The glass suddenly made a quiet pop and her questions were answered. Her new little shiny rock was free. As she went to grab it, a loud smash echoed through the store, informing the Kaitou that the police had broken through.

Kiniro's eyes widened in fear – oh no, it was supposed to take them a little longer than that. Quickly, she grabbed the ring and turned to go up the stairs to escape through a window, only to find five police men rushing down them. The back door she had locked, that was still a means of escape right? Kiniro vaulted over a jewellery case to check but, damn, the police had broken through that as well! Oh god, what was she supposed to do next? All exits were blocked. The police were gathering around her from all angles in a big circle, some even pulling out guns and aiming them at her hand, which held the ring. Keep a poker face, she scolded herself. Trying to keep a face of calm surprise, her mind whirled with panic. After a few seconds, all of the police had gathered. A man with a smug face stepped forward. His hair was short and blonde, complimenting his ice cold blue eyes. Surprisingly, he was young, in his early twenties, yet he still seemed to be the leader of the men and women who had assembled in the room to capture her. He opened his mouth to speak, causing Kiniro to mentally wince. Oh yeah, he's the kind of person who is the most fun at parties, if you detect the sarcasm.

"Kaitou Kiniro, if that is your real name, first reported as having stolen a black opal necklace on the 1st of July last year. Since then, there have been 15 crimes committed under your name, excluding tonight's. Gender – unknown, suspected female. Hair colour – blonde, could be dyed. Height – around five feet although possibly aided by heels. Age – unknown, suspected of being between 19 and 23. Blood type – unknown. Birthday – unknown. Associates - unknown. Family – unknown, if any. Species – unknown. Need I go on?" the blond, obnoxious man said in one breath with a sneer. Kiniro was quiet for a second before answering.

"As much as I love being a mystery to you all, really?! Did any of that need to be said!? And I thought it was pretty obvious THAT I AM A WOMAN!" she huffed, crossing her arms.

"Quick temper, easily angered," the man stated, getting out a notebook from his pocket and jotting what he said down.

"Wow, you're truly amazing, tantei-san," Kiniro drawled. She clapped mockingly, smiling inwardly as she saw some of the policemen snicker. The blonde man shot a sharp glare at them.

"Sarcastic, could get her into trouble one day," blonde-man muttered, once again writing in his notebook.

"Was that supposed to be funny?"

"Hmm, she's interrogative, annoyingly so."

"What did you just say?"

"And demanding," blonde-man finished with a smirk, "I seem to have gathered more information on you with one meeting than most of the taskforce have in six months."

"Taskforce? What's that? And who are you anyway?"

"Me? I'm the man who's going to capture Kaitou Kiniro. Everyone, go!" he shouted, giving Kiniro enough time to glare at him before every member of the 'taskforce' rushed towards her. Her poker face shattered in shock. Fudge, that's a lot of people! Her hand shook as she began to cry. Oh god, she didn't want to go to prison! She was too pretty to go to prison! Her hand shook a few more times and the taskforce were centimetres away from her and, oh, it required too much energy to hold the goddamn ring, so she dropped it.

Seconds after letting go of the ring, it fell to the ground and smashed with a loud bang, lifting up everyone in the room and throwing them away from the place where it fell. Even Kiniro got caught in the explosion. She flew backwards with everyone else, seeing the shock on their faces and knowing her face mirrored it. What the hell? Was her thought as her back hit a jewellery case and she stopped moving. A tsunami of dust and red light sped towards her. She had just enough time to cover her eyes to avoid the dust. Then, she heard a loud ripping sound, then silence. After a few seconds, she dared to open her eyes, looking left and right to find everyone knocked out, including the annoying blonde man. Shakily, she stood up. In front of her the dust was clearing. She could hear the sound of heavy breathing within the dust cloud, followed by a groan and then what sounded like a yawn.

Once again, silence. The dust had almost completely settled and Kiniro could make out the figure of something large, something dangerous. Holding her breath, she backed up a few steps then choked as the dust disappeared completely and the creature within it appeared.

It was huge, was the first thing she noticed. At least ten feet high and five foot wide, with a foot the size of her head. Red lumps stuck out from random point on its body; they were moving, writhing actually, as if something else was within them. The third thing she noticed was its body. Somehow it shimmered without being shiny, and it was jagged, all angles and striking bends. Despite this, the creature was not beautiful. No. It was ugly. It was the kind of ugly that only a monster can be. Not the ugliness of someone with scars or missing teeth, because they were still human, still amazing and gorgeous. The kind of ugly of something inherently evil.

Sharp angles on a diamond reflect light. Sharp angles on a monster reflect darkness.

The fourth and final thing that she noticed was the fact that its red oval eyes were staring right at her. Silence, again, before the creature smiled sickeningly - baring all of its yellow teeth - releasing a deafening roar and moving towards her. She yelled out as she backed further away from the monster, as far as she could get before her back hit the door. Still, it was moving closer and she could think of no way to get rid of it. Oh, it was all her fault, she shouldn't have dropped the diamond ring. She closed her eyes and let a few tears escape her. A few seconds passed. Nothing had happened. Opening her eyes she saw the monster's back. What had distracted it? Was Tuxedo Kamen there? Oh well, it didn't matter! She had time to think.

She turned to face the door, fully ready to leave and let the monster be someone else's problem, until she saw her blades on the floor. They must have fallen there when the police broke through! Wait, she could use them to injure the monster, at least a little bit, maybe even destroy it! After all, it was her fault that it was even there… somehow?

She picked up her blades and turned with a new, confident smirk. The monster still had its back turned away from her. It was moving forward, further away from her. Good. Expertly, she held one blade in each hand, before sizing up her opponent. The red bubble things all over its body seemed important. They practically screamed 'come and get me if you think you're hard enough.' Popping every single one seemed like a good place to start. There were three on its back, three on its front and one on each arm – eight in total. Easy.

Bending her legs in preparation, she breathed in and out to calm down, before sprinting towards the monster and slashing one of the red bubble things on its arm clean off. For a second, nothing happened, but then the monster let out a strangely human like scream as it turned to face Kiniro. But she was ready. As it turned, she cut off a bubble on the arm closest to her, then she spun around it so she was facing the monster back once again, while it faced the door. She slashed off the other two bubbles on its back – four more to go - and then stepped back, waiting for it to turn once again. It did.

One of the monster's arms sped towards her. She blocked with both blades in an X shape, before pushing them forward. The action sliced off the bubble on its arm – three to go – causing the creature to let out another human like screech while it backed away, falling onto its back. Kiniro spared the writhing monster a look of pity. Its eyes were closed in pain, its arms bleeding out red light, its angled body slowly turning to dust. As she stood over the body of something she had almost killed, she cried silent tears – not the stubborn wails of Tsukino Usagi but the tears of someone who has seen terrible things, or done terrible things and knows it.

With the monster on the ground, barely putting up a fight, it was easy to cut off the other two red bubbles. It wasn't easy to then watch it crumble to a pile of red dust. Something so large had lived and thought and acted upon its will, and it had died, leaving almost nothing of itself behind. It was… sad. Yes, that was the only word Kiniro could use. It wasn't a shame – the monster deserved its death frankly for injuring the police and trying to kill someone – but it wasn't a relief. It was just sad to watch something exist and then… not.

"What was that?" a deep voice asked from behind her. She could recognise that voice anywhere.

"I don't know, Tuxedo Kamen. I don't think I want to know either," Kiniro replied as she turned to face him. Kamen couldn't help but stare at her from where he stood, having seen the entire thing. Kiniro's eyes were wide, almost pitying, and silver moonlight washed over her form, reflecting off of the blood soaked blades which she held loosely in her hands. Looking at her like that, Tuxedo Kamen felt something within him, which he would later recognise as the feeling of wishing he could have helped, wishing he could have took those blades from her dainty hands and killed the beast himself to spare her the pain.

"…Are you okay?" he finally decided to ask. Kiniro turned slightly to lift her head to the moon.

"Honestly, I don't know. I mean, who knows how many people that thing could have killed? It's safer for everyone that it's dead but… I didn't think I'd ever have to kill."

The pair stood in companionable silence for a moment, understanding that it was what they needed. The feeling of kinship.

"We should go, Tuxedo Kamen. Before the police wake up," Kiniro sighed. She sheathed the blades to cover the blood, then placed them back inside the bow pocket. When she look up from her task, he was already gone. She allowed herself a little smile.

Kiniro hesitantly stepped over the bodies of the unconscious taskforce on the journey towards the front door to Osa-P. She almost expected the street to be full of people who had witnessed what had just happened, but anyone who had been on the street had also been affected by the monster's awakening. They were all unconscious. It was so quiet that it was possible to hear the sound of a window opening a few miles away. She wanted to just go home, get into bed and cry herself to sleep, but she needed to go get the box of jewellery she had stolen before from the roof she had jumped off earlier on that night so that she could return it. She crossed the road, laughing quietly at her instinctive looking left and right, and went up the stairs of the building until she reached the roof.

A whoosh of wind greeted her when she opened the door which let her onto the roof. For a second, her golden hair blocked her view of the roof but when it cleared she saw something strange. Someone strange.

On top of this random apartment building, was a woman. That in itself wouldn't be weird, especially considering what Kiniro had seen that night – the woman was tall for Japan, a little less than six foot, and carried an air of grace with her. Her posture was flawless and her arms didn't just hang like most peoples did, no, they seemed to hold themselves and glide effortlessly when she moved a little. She wore a short yellow dress, which reminded her of one a fairy would wear as she floated through the air. A strange thing about the woman was that she didn't wear shoes. Instead, she had a yellow beaded anklet. Her legs were very long, almost as long as Kiniro's and she had been branded the leggiest in thievery! Purple, almost black hair rippled from where some of it was held in two buns, a style reminiscent of Usagi's own hairstyle. There was a yellow bow tied around the woman's slender neck and a long necklace coming off of it, with a crescent moon attached. From where she stood with half of her back to Kiniro, Kiniro could see two black flower shaped bits of material at the base of her spine.

The strange woman suddenly turned with a harsh look in her blue eyes. Kiniro almost bolted in fear, but the woman's coldness melted a little when she saw that it was only her.

"Thirty minutes and twenty six seconds," the strange woman stated.

Kiniro frowned, "What?"

"That's how long it took you to break into the jewellery store, steal the crystal, defeat the youma and get here."

"Nani!? Crystal, youma – what are you talking about?"

The strange woman smiled secretively as a gust of wind came and blew her hair, giving her an air of a mystery waiting to be solved.

Then she simply said, "I guess I have a lot of explaining to do…"

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**AN: I hope you enjoyed the long awaited chapter 2! Next chapter, the mysterious woman reveals herself and explains to Usagi just what the fudge is going on. :) Until then, ja ne!**

**PS - Could you guess who the blonde man was? Also I made a reference to a TV show and a book in this chapter, if you can tell me which show + book it was, you win bragging rights and literally nothing else.**


	4. Chapter 3 - Exposition!

**AN: Okay, so it's been a little while since I last updated this story. I do apologize, but school has been terribly busy and, considering that I'm taking some important exams in, oh, forty-eight days, I probably won't be updating again for a little while. By the way, I started writing this chapter around the same time I published chapter two, and have steadily been adding more to it throughout the past two years, so if there is a change in my writing style (which I doubt) kudos for me for self-development! Other than that I have nothing much to say. Enjoy the chapter, tell me if there's anything you think I could change - I thrive on constructive criticism!**

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**Chapter 3**

"I guess I have a lot of explaining to do," the woman on the roof spoke with an enigmatic smile.

Slowly, while the pair stood in silence, the wind began to die down a little. Kiniro took a hesitant step forward, ready to run if necessary. The hang glider was prepared in the bow pocket on her back. If at any moment the situation turned against her any more than it already, she could press the button and fly away.

"And you are?" Kiniro asked. The woman smiled again.

"I sent out your heist note. I wanted to see how good you are," she replied, not really answering the question.

A pause. "How good I am… at stealing things?"

"Partly. Mostly though," her gaze drifted distantly to a spot next to Kiniro's left, "I wanted to see how you dealt with the youma."

"There's that word again. You're not making any sense. Are you crazy, or something?"

The mysterious woman frowned, creating wrinkles on her pale forehead and causing her eyes to narrow. "I think you're the crazy one."

"Why?"

"You break into secure buildings to steal precious gems – not even for profit if the box filled with jewelry over there is what I _know_ it is. A psychologist would have a field day with you on their sofa; worst of all – " the mysterious woman snapped, "You have no purpose."

Kiniro scowled, lifting her head importantly. "I have purpose, just one you wouldn't understand."

The woman smoothed out her wrinkles at this. "What, then? Are you just an adrenaline junkie? Do you wish to get captured by the police? Do you not care for your own life – jumping off a building as if it's not dangerous?" the woman continued calmly. When she had finished, her facial expression quickly melted like candlewax to one of pensive thought.

"Or could it be that you somehow sensed part of your purpose before I found you?" she muttered to herself.

"Excuse me, what did you just say?" Kiniro asked with a huff. Even her admittedly above average hearing hadn't been able to hear the woman she had spoken so quietly. The woman – Kiniro would have to find out her name soon so she could stop calling her 'the woman' – bristled, still with the same pensive look on her face. After a moment, she shook her head and looked back up at the Kaitou.

"Nothing, it was just a thought. Shall we move on? I do have a lot to tell you, and we do not have as much time as I would prefer. But, first order of business, I _am_ sorry about this," the woman smiled apologetically with a tilted head. Kiniro was filled with a sudden inexplicable fury her words.

Hotly, she began to pace, her voice rising with each word. "Sorry? Well, you should be! Do you have any idea how long it takes me to plan a successful heist? At least two days – more when the security is tight. And you decided to give me six hours! It's frankly amazing I even got this far, and since I haven't technically stolen the ring, this heist failed anyway! I didn't steal the goddamn diamond," Kiniro's anger fizzled, and turned sad, "I destroyed it."

The mysterious woman was quiet for another moment. She observed Kiniro's downturned face and weary posture, and then winced inwardly at the emotional trauma she had forced upon a young girl.

"That is why I say it. I am _truly_ sorry. But… it needed to be done," at Kiniro's incredulous expression the woman elaborated, "I needed to examine how you would go about killing – I mean, neutralizing the threat of a youma without the help of myself or any special tools."

Kiniro was silent. She licked her bottom lip absently. "Youma – that's what the monster that came out of the gem is called, right?"

The woman nodded. "Think of this heist as a sort of test, an entrance exam if you will? I need to see what you can do alone before I set about the task of making you better, more efficient."

"More efficient?" Kiniro parroted slowly, "More efficient at killing, do you mean?"

"Yes."

"You want me to become a better murderer?"

"No. Not a murderer. You're more of a – it's hard to explain," the woman trailed off. Kiniro smiled crookedly, a little bitterly.

"We still have time. Try to," she bit out. The woman sighed tiredly. It looked like stubbornness was something she would have to get used to.

"It seems the quick explanation is not the best method. Very well, I will explain from the _very_ beginning." A weighted pause. "Thousands of years ago, during a time known as the Silver Millennium, all of the planets in the universe existed in harmony, with the Moon inhabited by beings with incredibly long lifespans, whose aim was to aid the other planets – Earth their focus – and watch as they developed," the woman was about to continue when Kiniro held up her hand.

"So you're trying to tell me that people once lived on the moon? And not only that but other planets too? Do you honestly think I'd believe that?" Kiniro deadpanned, receiving an unearned scowl.

"It doesn't matter if you do not believe it yet. What I am telling you is true, it's even part of your own history. Shall I continue?"

"… Fine."

"Thank you. The Moon Kingdom was ruled by a kind and beautiful Queen named Serenity. The Queen used her powers as the wielder of the Silver Crystal to protect the solar system and her planet, the Moon. It was also the home of Queen Serenity's daughter and her guardians, known throughout the galaxy as the invincible Sailor Senshi.

One day, the Princess traveled to Earth alone, as she had never visited the Blue Planet, and was curious as to who ruled it. She found there the Crown Prince of the Earth, Endymion, and as the pair interacted they–"

"They fell in love," Kiniro interrupted, "That's usually how the stories go."

"Yes, they fell in love," the woman nodded sadly, "And so did the Princess' guardians. When the senshi went to Earth to bring back the Princess one day, they met the Prince's guardians, and instantly fell in love with them. However, the love between the people of different planets was forbidden on Earth, and out of lust and jealousy, a sorceress named Beryl tricked the people of her planet, using powers from a dark source of power name Metallia, into waging war against to Moon. As the senshi were slowly defeated and killed by the men they once loved, the Princess began to lose hope, and after the Prince was killed by Beryl, she took the sword from his heart and claimed her own life."

Unexpectedly, Kiniro felt dampness on her cheek. Oh – tears. For some reason, the story struck a chord somewhere in her heart. She was beginning to find it difficult not to believe. The woman continued after her short pause.

"Alone on the Moon, surrounded by the bodies of her people and her friends, Queen Serenity used the last of her power to send the souls of the Princess, her senshi, the Prince, his guardians and her two advisors to the future, where they could live a peaceful life on Earth… Her final wish almost came into fruition, but Metallia attempted to stop the Queen before the transportation of souls was complete. Her interruption, however, only led the Queen's spell to be _changed_. Everyone was sent to the future, yes, but Metallia's soul was unfortunately sent with them. To minimize the damage, the Queen managed to split and lock up Metallia's soul in eight different crystals. These crystals were the pieces of the Silver Crystal, which split into pieces after the wish was cast. Nonetheless, sealing Metallia came with a price: most of the Princess' soul was also split and locked away with Metallia, and so the Princess could not live free unless Metallia was also set free.

Now, everyone who was part of the Silver Millennium and was sent forward is as old as they were when the Moon Kingdom fell. Somewhere in Tokyo, the reincarnations of the Senshi, the Prince and his guardians wander, unaware of their past and their lovers. Queen Serenity would wish for me to leave it like that, and in all honesty, so would I. But I can feel evil brewing. I am almost certain that Metallia has found a way to break free of the seal by leaving her soul and the Princess' behind. The youma you faced today is proof of that."

"Then the monster was part of this 'Metallia's' soul?" Kiniro asked tentatively. The woman nodded.

"Yes. By defeating it yourself, you have done two things: you have weakened a part of Metallia –"

"Wait, so I haven't destroyed part of her soul? I've only weakened it?" Kiniro interrupted.

"Yes. To really defeat Metallia, we need the Princess, which brings me onto the second thing you did. By destroying the youma and the crystal it lived in, you have also set free a portion of the Princess' soul," the woman informed. Kiniro pondered this information for a second.

"So, to free the Princess and defeat the evil Metallia, I need to first destroy all seven remaining crystals, then actually find the person the Princess was reincarnated as, in order to ask _her_ to try to defeat Metallia?"

"Yes. It's a little unnecessarily complex, but you seem to have gotten the hang of it," the woman stated wryly.

Kiniro contemplated the information in silence, chewing lightly on her bottom lip. Questions waged war in her mind, just begging to be voiced, and so she gave in. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course. However, I may not be able to answer," the woman answered.

"Why me?" A pause. "Who am _I_ in all of this? Why am I the one who needs to kill these creatures? Why can't you do it – who are you anyway?"

The woman balked at the questions. "Oh yes, I have not told you my name yet. My name," she breathed in, as if ready to impart another great truth, "is Luna, and I was one of Queen Serenity's advisors on the Moon. You, my dear, were one of the Princess' sailor senshi, the leader in fact: Sailor Moon."

"Sailor Moon," Kiniro tested the name. It… didn't feel wrong exactly, but she felt as if maybe there was another name, a more important name that she should be called by the woman – no, Luna. Was this her purpose, then? Was the reason she felt the urge to steal – because somewhere deep down she knew that she was searching for something? Across from her, Luna began to mutter.

"Hmm, Sailor Moon. At least, that was what you were supposed to be called now. My plan was to find you and give you the power to transform. From there, we were supposed to reform the senshi, find the pieces of the Princess' soul and bring her back, whilst battling the youma. After that, well, we were going to defeat Metallia as a magical-girl-team but that plan has just gone to hel– "

"Luna? What are you talking about to yourself like that?" Kiniro interrupted. Luna blushed lightly and lifted her head up.

"Nothing. I do wonder though, why fate has gone in this direction rather than the other. The other was certainly preferable," she intoned. Kiniro was silent for a moment before turning her head up towards the silver moon.

"I don't really understand what you mean but… maybe this is how things are meant to be for _us_. Maybe there are endless universes, endless almost identical universes each with something unique to offer. And maybe there's a you and a me in every single one. There, you might be stronger, or smarter, or maybe both, maybe neither – but all exist, just as what could have been if life had played us different cards.

Maybe this life is just one option and when we die nothing changes; instead we get to move on and live with different conditions. Like traveling the world – everywhere is different but really everywhere is the same too. Or like a test set by the universe to see which _you_ is really the best. Survival of the fittest. Variation of the species made up of one. We might live here where there we die… or," Kiniro paused, before taking on a sad expression of someone who has been forced to admit defeat to something greater than themselves, "Or here we fail and die where we once lived."

Luna was silent. She lowered her eyes. After a moment of this, two people listening to the night, Kiniro smiled and asked Luna – "So what are we supposed to do now?"

Luna grinned enigmatically, a rare show of youth. "This I know the absolute answer to," she said before walking away from Kiniro and towards a large purple trunk which had remained unnoticed by Kiniro throughout the duration of their conversation. The trunk was quite simple in design; it was the same color as Luna's strange hair with a little black cat design on the bottom left corner of the lid.

"Since you passed the entrance exam, I can go about training you with the few weapons I have from the Silver Millennium through experience and explain how to properly kill – sorry, neutralize a youma," she winced at her mistake. Kiniro, however, looked as if she hadn't noticed it. Instead, she came forward to stand beside Luna in front of the trunk.

"I'm guessing the weapons are in there," she gestured to the trunk. Luna nodded.

"And I'm also guessing that they are a lot more magical than the blades I used," Kiniro added. Another nod. Luna bent down, managing to do so with far too much grace, and unbuckled the trunk while Kiniro leaned over it. Curious about the content, she kneeled on the ground and went to try to help Luna, pulling her hands back when Luna snapped at her.

"This is not a trunk just anyone can touch without consequences," Luna stated sharply before muttering something about magical curses and growing a cat tail and ears? Kiniro tilted her head in mild curiosity before stepping back from the case as commanded. After Luna undid all of the buckles, she flicked her hands around with purpose, and suddenly the case popped open to reveal its contents.

Inside were five rectangular boxes, each very thin due to the fact that they were tilted on their sides within the deep case. Each of the boxes seemed to be made of a simple, cheap type of wood – plain in color. However, the ornate carvings which spread across the sides of each box brought them to life. The carvings were all different to one another in a way hardly noticeable to most people at first glance, but to a jewel thief who spent a lot of time observing and analyzing jewels or information the subtleties jumped out of the wood.

On the far left the carvings were very floral – many more flowers adorned the edges and were laced into the dainty design - despite the fact that the edges were sharp with hard strokes, random with their depth. The case to its right was very different. There were less flower shapes or patterns, with more straight lines and shapes, even a few numbers. Everything about the carvings were precise and calculated, as if someone had gone at it with a ruler and magnifying glass.

On the far right, the box's carvings were less elaborate than the two on the left. They were quite asymmetric but still very beautiful, with puckered hearts and stars the theme throughout. Upon further inspection, the box's carvings were embossed in gold, making it shimmer slightly in the moonlight. To the left of this box, the carvings twirled and swirled and seemed to grow across the wood like a burning flame. Possibly the simplest in design but definitely one of the most elegant.

To Kiniro, who stood rapt, there was only one box which appealed to her. On a sub-conscious level, the wooden box the center felt as if it was made for her. In the center of the rectangle was a silver half-moon which connected to other evenly placed mini-moons through vines of carved silver light, stretching out endlessly across the plain wood, bending gracefully like some sort of acrobat. Small stars decorated extra space with engraved rays of moonbeams of their own giving it an ethereal feel, as if by reaching out with one hand, one could trace the stars in the night sky. Everything about it was beautiful. Kiniro stared, spellbound for a brief moment.

"I see that the box in the center has caught your eye," Luna smiled knowingly. Kiniro was too out of it to do anything but nod.

"Would you like to open it?" Luna asked.

"C - could I?"

"Please, go ahead. It is yours after all."

"Mine?"

"Indeed. In the Silver Millennium, each of the senshi had a large room in the palace just for weaponry and training. Of course, when the senshi traveled to other planets they could not take an entire inventory of weapons with them, so the Queen and I created these boxes using her magic and my designs," Luna explained.

"But… these boxes only look big enough to hold one weapon, at best!" Kiniro said with a curious tilt of her head. Luna smiled condescendingly, whilst still remaining beautifully elegant - like an adult explaining a simple concept to a stupid child. It unnerved Kiniro. It annoyed her in ways she did not like to regularly examine.

At fifteen, she was at the age where her own adulthood was close enough to cloud her mind with mature thoughts and feelings but too far away to be acknowledged by others. It was easier to act younger than she was than to show how much older she felt on the inside; it would be ignored by the 'adults' anyway. She had no right to live how she wished to live while her own physical age bound her and kept her trapped under a mask. She was immature, childish, incapable of a life without support from the ones who raised her, too dumb to take _care_ of herself and not old enough to _be_ herself.

So Luna's tone, posture and smile aggravated her in ways she could explain all too well, but dared not to express.

"You are right when you say that they only hold one weapon. Yet, the weapon in that box is exactly the weapon you need, for now. The box selects the one most necessary for your task from the still existent storage rooms under the surface of the Moon and relocates it," Luna gestured towards the trunk, "So please open it. I desire to see what you need, as I imagine you do too."

Kiniro smiled before bending down over the trunk. With both of her hands she pulled the box out of the case, grinning half madly when it felt so pleasantly light in her grip. She placed it down on the ground with the lid facing up. From this angle it was quite a wide box, which should have been expected from the depth of the trunk. The lid slid off effortlessly with an audible pop to reveal the weapon she needed, and it was stunning.

Except, there were only two _handle_ like objects in the box, reminding her of the end of katana, and nothing else. Kiniro lifted one out of the box to get a better look at it. The design of its grip was similar to the design of a traditional katana, with long crisscrossing strips of leather over two menuki tucked in on either side. Where there would usually be something like ray skin wrapping over the handle there was instead what looked similar to white silk. As she held it up to the moonlight, the silk shimmered like some sort of pale rainbow. The leather was more of a light gray color than black or brown and the ornate menuki were replaced with moonstone shaped to resemble a woman holding her hands up to the sky above. The woman's hair was in Usagi's patented odango style. At the end of the katana handle was a thick white disk, presumably the hand guard.

Kiniro examined the handle for a long time, taking in each and every beautiful detail before finally speaking.

"This is gorgeous," she stated simply, "I'm guessing it's some sort of special Moon-katana since the materials and overall feel of it is very different to a traditional one from Earth."

"Indeed. This was crafted by the best forgers in the galaxy, especially for you. It is truly one of a kind," Luna wistfully gazed at the handle.

"Well, I'm honored, really… but where's the rest of it?" Kiniro grinned.

"The blade?"

"Yes, the blade. The actual weapon part. While the fancy handles are lovely, they _are_ literally just the grips of a katana."

"Ah, well that is the magical part," Luna bent down and plucked the other handle from Kiniro's box, "Copy what I do."

Luna first lifted her left hand up to the moon while her right held the Moon-katana handle centred with her body but far enough away from her chest to keep only a slightly bent right arm. Suddenly, her left arm swept down from the sky to rest on the hand guard disk of the katana for a brief second before lifting her hand up from the disk, back up to the moon and finally dropping it to her side. There was complete silence for what felt like a long time.

Luna opened her eyes to see Kiniro looking at her blankly.

"Was something supposed to happen then or…?" Kiniro asked. Luna rolled her eyes.

"Of course not. I have no control over your weapons after all. That is why I asked you to copy what I did. Then you will understand."

Kiniro nodded slowly. A little apprehensively, she followed the odd movements which Luna had demonstrated for her. When her left hand hit the guard disk she felt something warm and silvery begin inside of her heart. It grew at an alarming speed – so much so that she worried that she was having a heart attack – bubbling from her chest and towards her arm and through it to her hand. From her hand, the silvery glow transferred over the hilt of the Moon-katana, filling the disk with bright white light. She remembered to lift her hand at the last second and was surprised to see the white light following its movement. Up and up until finally she pulled her hand away to let it rest at her side to see the white light shape itself. When the light disappeared in a blinding flash, Kiniro gaped at the blade she saw.

She was, of course, expecting the sharp metal blade of a katana. Which she obviously was not going to get if the evening she had lived through was anything to go by.

What she got was a glass blade! Well, it looked like glass at first glance, but upon closer inspection turned out to be selenite. Selenite being a variety of the mineral gypsum. Mostly colorless and transparent - named after the Greek word for moon. With no real uses, it had gone ignored by most except for those intrigued by its odd beauty.

"Why is the blade made of selenite? I'd have thought that would be entirely impractical!" Kiniro exclaimed breathlessly. As she lifted the katana up to the moon, it glimmered and sparkled in a way entirely too lovely and suddenly she saw the appeal of something she had never considered stealing. The blade had perfectly crisp, sharp edges and curved gracefully through the air. Never had she seen a sword so magnificent! With the blade and the handle joined at last, it could be fully appreciated for all that it was.

"Selenite is actually very strong, very useful and extremely rare," Luna seemed affronted, "It really is a shame the human race cannot see that. On the moon, we rarely traded with the Earth as we saw no use for its resources, but one day a visitor came from the planet trying to sell what he called selenite. He must have thought that only an idiot would pay a high price for such a useless thing. Lunarians, however, sensed its value and bought everything he owned, making him a very rich man I imagine.

"We harnessed its power by channeling moon energy through it. Not many materials could handle the true strength of the moon's power, but selenite was one of those rare materials which thrived off of it. What the man sold was not enough to use a lot of but was enough to make a sword and a few other weapons for the Sailor senshi of the Moon."

"But if selenite was so brilliant for Lunarians, how come nobody tried to trade with Earth to get more of the stuff?" Kiniro frowned.

"Sadly, we had already entered the war by the time we figured out the many uses of selenite. We could not trade with a planet we fought against," Luna smiled bitterly. Kiniro hesitated a little before nodding. War and politics were not her forte but she understood that trade in certain circumstances was impossible. She tentatively swung the katana through the air with a flick of her wrist.

"Am I doing this right? I haven't held a katana in years," Kiniro bit her lip absentmindedly.

"In years?" Luna asked. A few seconds passed without a reply, Kiniro captivated by her new weapon. The blade slid through the air effortlessly, the handle held confidently as it would be by a professional.

"Hmm?" she was distracted, "Yes – wait." Suddenly she stopped, looking around with her eyebrows furrowed. "No."

"No?" Luna parroted.

"No, I have never held a katana in my life –" Kiniro whispered. _So why do I know how to wield it,_ was left unsaid.

Luna narrowed her eyes. "The weapons _were_ made specifically for the senshi," Luna spoke slowly, as if only barely understanding it herself, "It would be logical that an unconscious part of your mind resonates with it."

With a vague nod, Kiniro began to swing the blade around her again. Somehow the weight of it in her grasp felt like coming home, like slipping into bed after late at night, like sipping from a glass of ice water on a hot day. It was bliss. It was terrifying. Suddenly, Kiniro wanted to stop. She wanted to stop it all, she wanted to go home – it was all too much, this wasn't what she had signed up for! She wanted excitement, cheap thrills – hadn't that really been what it was all about?

Her arm sagged low, katana held loosely in her hand. Breathing in and out, Kiniro contemplated her circumstances, her desires, her purpose. She recalibrated all that she knew in the space of twenty seconds.

"Can I still say no to all of this?" she muttered, her eyes turned away in a mockery of guilt.

"You can," Luna started softly, "But I sincerely doubt your own ability to say no to this."

Kiniro's eyes flashed. How dare she presume such things? She was seconds away from opening her mouth, prepared to rant and rave with everything she had in her, when the fight drained from within. As much as Luna was a stranger, a _strange_ stranger, she had Kiniro figured out.

"Shamefully, you are right," she admitted. "I'm intrigued. I'm interested. I feel that maybe this is what I should be doing, so I _will_ go along with you for now, crazy lady."

Luna fought the urge to roll her eyes.

"First of all though," Kiniro had the gall to look sheepish, "How do I sheathe the katana?"

With a wry smile, Luna instructed the thief on how to do so: a twist of the wrist combined with _willing_ the blade away.

When the blade disappeared, a loud banging started from lower in the building, sounding like a mix of heavy footsteps and yelled instructions, startled Kiniro from admiring the magic of the blade. Luna sighed and motioned to take what was left of the katana off her hands.

She placed it back in Kiniro's box, while the banging got louder and closer. "That will be your task force," Luna said, "it seems they have finally woken up."

When Luna stood up, having sealed her trunk (sans Kiniro's personal box) and holding her left hand slightly above it, she turned as if to go, but Kiniro quickly stopped her, taking a step forward towards the woman. "Wait, what do I do now? What about training" she questioned, slightly panicked.

Luna began to speak, waving her arm around the trunk in complex patterns, until it began to shrink to the size of a large grape in her hand, "_I_ shall take my leave, and then, I imagine, you will continue on with your life until I send you a sign."

"A sign?"

"Yes," Luna sighed, tucking the grape sized trunk into a small compartment in the yellow bow tied around her slim neck, "Until then, you wait."

The banging was getting louder, so Kiniro turned from Luna in order to finish setting the scene before she could leave. On top of the box of stolen jewels she set a handwritten note (complete with a DNA-free pink lipstick mark as a signature) and from the floor near her feet she picked up her box, tucking it under her arm. It held hardly any weight, but it was still large enough to be noticeable. She would need to hide it.

When she turned back to where she had last seen Luna, a gust of wind blew from her left, and she noticed that Luna was gone, as if she had never been there at all. Kiniro almost paused to question it – Luna seemed to have a penchant for dramatic entrances and exits – but the sound of nearby doors being opened (with vigor) set her back on track.

By the time the task force had reached the roof, slammed open the door and filed out in neat and angry rows, Kiniro was perched on the edge of the roof. She had taken the time to place her left foot in front of her right to draw attention to her legs, and had her arms holding the box behind her back, just out of their sight. The noise level reached a crescendo just as the officers pulled out their guns and their blond leader tumbled out of the door stepping forward towards Kiniro ominously. She smiled.

With an air blown kiss, she stretched out her arms, mimicking her pose from earlier in the evening, and fell backward over the side of the roof and down.

When the blond man had finally raced forward to watch her fall, he peered out over the ledge, and saw empty ground, dozens of floors below. Kiniro had disappeared.

"God damn it!" he yelled, smashing his fist down. To his right, he noticed a small glinting in the moonlight in the corner of his eye and, curious, turned to face it. What he found, was a large jewelry box, a box full of assorted gems and diamonds and stones, which he recognized as previous targets of his task force's elusive femme phantom thief. From the gasps behind him, his team recognized them too.

"Sir," one of the bravest of his team stepped forward, "has she left behind what I think she's left behind?"

The blonde man muttered his affirmative.

On top of the box lay a small note on heavy cream cardstock, signed with a kiss:

_I hope you enjoy my little present. But sorry boys, I'm not done just yet! ;)_

* * *

**AN: Well, this took me two years to write and it's still not great. Hope you all enjoyed it though!**


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